The evolution of structural resilience of global oil and gas resources trade network

This paper establishes anetwork resilience evaluation framework of the global oil and gas resourcetrade network in 2010, 2015 and 2020. The results are as follows: The links of the oil trade network present a gradually shrinking trend, and the gas tradenetwork presents a trend of close connection first and then reduced. In termsof network density, network centrality, network connectivity and network size, the structural resilience of the oil and gas resource trade network displays ashrinking trend, and the gas trade network is superior. Concerninginvulnerability and recovery, the resilience of the oil trade network issuperior to the natural gas trade network. In simulated attacks, the oil tradenetwork reveals a higher resilience towards intentional attacks, and the gastrade network shows a higher resilience towards random attacks. The Strait ofHormuz and the Strait of Malacca are critical chokepoints in the networks.     

The new EU industrial policy: authoritarian neoliberal structural adjustment and the case for alternatives

ABSTRACT

In 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker declared the re-industrialization of the European Union (EU) a top priority. The new EU industrial policy seeks to boost industrial competitiveness and leverage investments into manufacturing, thereby increasing industry’s share of EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 20% by 2020. What may appear to be a Keynesian industrial policy and thus a move away from the EU’s previous neoliberal agenda, however, seeks to calibrate a further neoliberal structural adjustment in a highly authoritarian fashion. Internal devaluation through devaluing labour, intensifying competition and reducing corporate taxes takes centre-stage. As an auxiliary to the European Semester, national productivity boards have been established to monitor wage developments alongside labour productivity and to suggest policy adjustments when cost competitiveness lags behind the Eurozone average and that of the main trading partners. Not only have formal democratic institutions and organized labour been circumvented in the decision-making process regarding such boards, they will have little voice in the future, and this an area that hitherto fell largely within the scope of member states: wage bargaining. Hence, the new EU industrial policy needs to be discredited, de-legitimized and thus, politicized. A political counter-project, rooted in an alternative industrial policy geared towards fostering horizontal and democratic solidarity economy initiatives which have proliferated since 2008, is discussed in the article’s closing pages.     

When controversial businesses meet dialogic communication: Insights from public relations practitioners in the oil and gas industry

This study investigated how public relations practitioners understand and practice dialogic communication in the controversial oil and gas industry. Guided by theoretical works of dialogic theory of public relations, the dialogic ladder, and negative spaces of dialogue, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 practitioners who held public relations/communication positions serving the oil and gas industry in Canada. The findings suggest some points of alignment between practitioners’ understanding of dialogic public relations and the related theoretical orientation. Practitioners reported predominantly using an interpersonal approach for shallow dialogue followed by mediated and procedural approaches with different stakeholders in practice. Interviewees also shared the unique challenges they face in practicing dialogic communication due to the controversies surrounding the industry. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Agenda-Building role of state-owned media around the world: 2014 Hong Kong protest case

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to advance theoretical and practical knowledge of political public relations and mediated public diplomacy through analyzing the agenda-building relationships between state-owned media and foreign news coverage in 16 countries during the 2014 Hong Kong protest. The results indicated significant correlations of issues and stakeholders between the Chinese state-owned media and the English language media outlets of 16 foreign countries, thereby supporting the international agenda-building role of Chinese state-owned media. An exploratory analysis was conducted to test the role of intercultural or international relations variables in the agenda-building process.     

Institutionalizing public relations: A case study of Chinese government crisis communication on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake

Research is needed on the “institutionalization” of public relations as a strategic-management function. How and why public relations ought to be institutionalized certainly remains highly debatable. This study, thus, engages the current debate on the necessity and advantages of the institutionalization of public relation by taking on Chinese government crisis communication in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake as a test case.This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, consisting largely of online and textual research, convenient and confidential telephone interviews, content analysis of government communication materials, and intercept surveys in Beijing (China's capital city) and Chengdu (the provincial capital of the Sichuan Province where the earthquake hits).The study finds that the institutionalization of government public relations in China has visible results, especially, in the areas of crisis communication and management, as well as stakeholder-relationship building. Within the Chinese context, it suggests, “institutionalization” of the government public relations tends to render legitimacy to public relations practice and empower the practitioners by according PR practice a strategic function toward the achievement of public-institution effectiveness. Although a preliminary analysis, this study supports the argument on the necessity and advantages for PR practice becoming institutionalized.     

The changing landscape of public service delivery systems for disabled people in China: a Shanghai case study

This article will consider the current development of an emerging contract culture for the delivery of social services and its impact on disabled people in China. The discussion is based on an original qualitative study in Shanghai. The past 30 years have seen dramatic changes in China, which in parts have led to improvements in the lives of disabled people. The China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) became a key player in delivering these changes with the government. However, the CDPF is being criticized by disabled people for being too bureaucratic and not being effective enough in its delivery of services. One of its responses is to work with newly emerging not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) of and for disabled people. The CDPF has now begun to contract the delivery of some services to such NPOs. It is hoped that this may improve their effectiveness but the development of a contract culture in the delivery of services for disabled people may also be seen to pose a threat.     

Typology and dimensionality of litigation public relations strategies: The Hewlett-Packard board pretexting scandal case

This study examined the content of litigation public relations (LPR) strategies Hewlett-Packard used in its recent board pretexting scandal by analyzing the press releases and newspaper coverage. Seven types of LPR strategies were identified and mapped using multidimensional scaling (MDS) along two continuums representing Defense–Accommodation and Ambiguity–Specification message attributes. Threat type was found to influence the choice of LPR strategies, which in return, impacted on how the publics attributed the organizational responsibility in the crisis. The use of emotional message played an important role in the two new LPR strategies, Information Supply and Strategic Avoidance.     

The role of social entrepreneurship in leveraging exaptation in locked-in industrial districts: the case of Idrogenet in the industrial district of Lumezzane

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of social entrepreneurship as driver of exaptation. Exaptation is defined as the redeployment of an existing body of knowledge into a new and previously unrelated domain of application and as major source of disruptive innovation and firms' dynamic capabilities. Exaptation takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the accumulation of knowledge takes place without any anticipation of its future use. In the second phase, the knowledge accumulated is explicitly and consciously leveraged and exploited to build up and take advantage of the opportunity in an emerging market niche. We contribute to extant literature by showing how social entrepreneurship may help firms to discover new potential and innovative field of application for their existing know-how and exploiting it into such a field. Our results are based on a case study of exaptation led by social entrepreneurship in the industrial district of Lumezzane.     

The enclosures of colonization: Indigeneity,development, and the case of Mapithel dam in Northeast India

This paper examines the Mapithel dam in Northeastern state of Manipur in India as a site of contestation between the state-led development agenda and the affected tribal people. Based on discursive field experiences, the paper reflects upon the competing values in relation to land use and ownership systems and raises a question – as to whether in the name of development, is the government eroding tribal people’s right over their land and resources? The Mapithel dam issue not only invites serious deliberations beyond dam construction and its social and ecological ramifications but also contemplates on the various dynamics in and through cultural identity, politics, and natural resources. The paper addresses some key aspects of the very political closure approach which emphasizes state’s hegemony through forceful intrusion into the life, livelihood, and ‘lebenswelt’ of tribal people and infringement of their traditional rights.     

A case study of Congressional hostility to agency public relations: The Federal Reserve and Senator Heflin, 1922

This is an historical case study of one US Senator's effort to reduce the public information activities of a federal agency. In 1922, Senator Thomas Heflin, an opponent of the policies of the Federal Reserve Bank, took especial umbrage at the Bank's use of public relations to reply to his own attacks on it. This is an example of a politician trying to muzzle government public relations regardless of fairness or reciprocity.     

Effective strategies for responding to rumors about risks: The case of radiation-contaminated food in South Korea

This experimental study explores how governments should respond to rumors about national-level risk issues. Informed by research in rumor psychology and risk/crisis communication, it investigates whether type of rumor and rumor response strategy have main and interaction effects on reducing rumor beliefs and intention to disseminate rumor. The two featured rumor types are the bogie rumor, which highlights feared outcomes, and the wedge rumor, which aims to reinforce differences between rival groups. Derived from Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the three response strategies examined are refuting the rumor, denying it, and attacking its source. Data were drawn from part of a large-scale online experiment, and the sample of the analysis was 942 South Korean adults. The experiment had a between-subjects design of 2 rumor type (wedge vs. bogie) x 3 government response strategies (refutation, denial, attack the attacker). Results show that all three rumor response strategies significantly reduced rumor beliefs, but only the refutation strategy significantly reduced intention to disseminate the rumor. Rumor type (bogie) and response strategies (refutation) had main, but not interaction, effects on reduction of intention to disseminate the rumor.     

“十二五”规划与产业结构升级：广东的机遇与挑战

“十二五”规划强调通过培育自主创新能力,加快产业结构的调整和升级,提高产业国际竞争力。从注重高增长的目标向质量、均衡和可持续增长的战略目标调整。本文通过比较凯恩斯主义和自由主义的产业政策举张,阐述“十二五”规划制订的产业政策对五个行业带来的重要影响。针对规划要求的产业调整与升级的政策,分析广东省经济结构变化的轨迹与特点,提出广东实施“腾笼换鸟”的产业升级战略,解决结构瓶颈必须重视的四个问题及解决方案。     

Testing news trustworthiness in an online public sphere: a case study of The Economist's news report covering the riots in Xinjiang,China

This paper explores the news trustworthiness and media credibility of The Economist's news report on 9 July 2009, and the communicative roles of 846 readers' responses. Theoretically guided by news translation and cultural resistance and the online public sphere, we applied online field observation and discourse analysis and achieved two main findings: First, although the news report covered the Xinjiang riots with comprehensive and attractive details, it violated the core journalism value of media credibility and journalistic objectivity by providing misleading pictures and significant unreliable and biased coverage. Second, the major communicative roles of the online readers' responses generally match Dahlberg's six conditions of an ideal online public sphere, which is still challenging but promising to realize.     

Implementation and evaluation of tourism industry: Evidentiary case study of night market development in Taiwan

Taiwan’s night markets are the most popular and unique characteristics of domestic and foreign tourists’ night life and have great potential value for tourism development. However, development of the night market is vulnerable to the negative impact of COVID-19. To discover the potential value and evaluation of the night market, we interviewed 46 experts from several industries and occupations in Taiwan to investigate the relationships between brand equity, benefits, motivations of and satisfaction with night market tourism and development. The results show that travel motivation has both direct and indirect effects on brand equity, benefits and satisfaction. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is the most critical performance attribute of night market tourism, which may be influenced by brand equity, benefit, and motivation. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Negotiating with terrorists: The iterated game of the Taliban Korean hostage case

The purpose of this essay is to describe the Taliban Korean hostage situation in a theoretical perspective, and to suggest possible strategies of enhancing the negotiation power of the threatened. The results show that dealing with terrorists should be a constant dialectical process of firmness and softness. A government negotiator should be adamant about the principle, but at the same time seek alternative options to turn the current hostage negotiation into a route for possible agreements.     

Moving Past Picket Fences: The Meaning of “Home” for Public Housing Residents

The literature on the meaning of “home” has generally focused on creating lists without giving much attention to the context that shapes meanings. Recently, scholars have argued that to understand “home” it is important to know the range of meanings that different people in different contexts give it. In this article, we focus on the meaning of “home” for public housing residents and consider how they construct the meaning of “home” and if they find that meaning in public housing. Our findings suggest that respondents consider their public housing residences to be “home,” and they construct this meaning using the dimensions of home identified in the literature. However, how respondents used these dimensions were, in some ways, different because of the context of living in public housing. Respondents emphasized the social dimension, and this dimension appeared to organize the other dimensions. As such, our findings support arguments that context matters to the meaning of “home.” They also suggest that policymakers need to broaden their understandings of public housing, as places that can be “home,” and use this understanding when making decisions about housing transformations.     

The politics of evaluation research: A case study of community development block grant funding for human services

This paper examines the ramifications of conducting evaluation research within a very politically sensitive area. The evaluation project discussed in this paper involved an assessment of six human service agencies within a city that were receiving Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) public service funds. The city's Office of Policy Planning and Management (OPPM) contracted for this research in order to evaluate the CDBG funded agencies and to provide technical assistance so they could make informed policy decisions concerning the allocation of the Seventh Year Community Development public service funds. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had stipulated that there be a 20% limitation in CDBG public service funding. The city involved in this study had allocated over 25% of its CDBG funding to public services. Thus, the city was over the stipulated limitation and was therefore requested by HUD to either justify the expenditure or cut back its allocation of funds to the 20% level.As a result of this mandate by HUD, the city requested and received a technical assistance grant from HUD. This paper provides a specific example of how the conduct of evaluation can become entwined in the politics of human service agencies and their funding sources, Moreover, the implications of this experience for evaluation as a field of endeavor are explored.     

The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and consultancy firms and elite class formation

The symbolic value of being recruited by a high status multinational company likely represents an important marker of distinction. For the first time, a unique Destinations of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE) data‐set is used here to model entry to elite multinational company in finance, accountancy and consultancy sectors among graduates of different social origins, universities, degree subjects and with different degree classifications. From a sample of 11,755 graduates working across these three sectors, we examine what predicts entry to 31 leading firms and then examine pay hierarchies among the 3,260 graduates working for these companies using random‐effects models. At first glance, significantly, we find that elite recruits come from a much broader range of universities than might be imagined. However, a closer look at the highest paid graduates within these firms reveals more familiar patterns of social and institutional stratification. We argue that these patterns likely reflect the nature of work undertaken by graduates in these elite firms, with institutional and social origins of graduates differing according to the particular track taken in what are likely to be highly differentiated graduate recruitment schemes.     

Social gains from the public relations voice of activist investors: The case of Herbalife and Pershing Square Capital Management

This article investigates the purpose, practice and outcome of the financial public relations (PR) of activist investors, which is framed as the exercise of the activist voice.The object of investigation is the organizational discourse of the activist hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management during an investment position it took in the health products firm, Herbalife, from 2012 onwards. Pershing Square spent $50 million dollars (USD) on investigations and campaigning and this public relations output was interpreted using a combination of organizational discourse analysis and narrative analysis.Pershing Square delivered a social gain, when the regulator intervened to levy a fine to redress the losses of Herbalife distributors and ordered the company to change its business practices. With this change in governance, Pershing Square achieved the type of social gain normally associated with social activism or corporate social responsibility.The case suggests that the economically-derived exit-voice-loyalty continuum is a useful theoretical frame for considering social gains arising from the public relations of activist investors. Moreover, the findings suggest potential for future work considering public relations as a process that enables, enhances and enacts the vocalization of economic, social and political interests.